


Bad Influence (Or Not)

by frozenCinders



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, did i invent a new ice cream trio? Well, i didn't choose to add a second chapter but it's there now., uncle braig cinematic universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-16 15:58:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18524818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: Braig already has his hands full with just the one adoptive nephew; he hopes to any deity that may exist out there that this other kid doesn't start calling him uncle too.





	1. Chapter 1

"As there has been a troublemaker nearby recently, we must be especially vigilant. And _around,_ " Dilan says, narrowing his eyes at Braig in particular, who makes a downright cartoonish expression as he shrugs.

"Yeah, yeah, be on the lookout, got it," he mocks with a dismissive wave. It would indeed be an issue if a so-called troublemaker started mucking things up, so he does plan to take these orders seriously, but Dilan doesn't need to know that. Not when it's funnier to watch his nostrils flare like a bull as he tries so hard to remain civil with him. Dilan got tired of Braig's nonsense a long time ago, but his reactions only get funnier.

He supposes it's fine that he ends up with the night shift. As much as he likes to mess with people and act like the life of the party, he likes the quiet of night much more. Dilan is doubtlessly convinced that this is a punishment.

Braig likes to think he has eyes like a cat, and this is further backed up by how easily he spots two figures in the shadows despite there being almost no lights nearby. He readies one of his guns, delaying in his decision to fire a warning shot when he thinks about how small the figures are. One could feasibly be an adult, albeit a short one, but he refuses to believe the other isn't a child. In fact, the smaller one looks a bit like...

With that realization, he quickly and soundlessly makes his way closer to them before firing just once at the ground near them. Oddly, while they both jump at the sudden attack, neither of them make a sound. The taller one easily falls into a fighting stance, summoning a swordlike weapon that even Braig can't quite make out in this lighting.

"Bit past the kid's bedtime, don't you think? Leave him now and maybe you don't have to get hurt," Braig calls.

"... Uncle Braig?"

Braig physically recoils in shock at Vanitas's voice.

"Van-- what the hell-- uh, what the heck are you doing out here?!" Braig questions as he approaches further, wishing Ienzo wasn't right there to listen, because he has some very specific scolding for Vanitas that cannot be overheard. Ienzo may never say a word, but he might decide to start talking one day, and it'd be trouble if he helped a certain someone connect some dots. Hopefully, he doesn't even know Vanitas's name yet.

"I was bored, so I found a fellow night owl," he answers with a casual shrug like he wasn't just mistaken for kidnapping an 8 year old. "I found him like a week ago. We've been talking whenever he can't sleep."

"Ienzo? _Talking_? Now this, I have to hear," Braig says in disbelief.

"Huh?"

Ienzo, as per usual, doesn't say anything, but Vanitas somehow seems confused at the implication that he's always like that. Ienzo looks up at Vanitas with a mild yet inscrutable expression on his face.

"He's kind of the "group kid", if you catch my drift. Everyone from the castle's got the daddy instincts for him, you know? If they spot a stranger with him, they'll kick your-- they'll _beat you up_  six ways to Sunday," Braig warns, and although his reason is indeed for Vanitas's safety, it's not the castle guards or Even he's worried about.

"So what? I can handle them if they try to pick a fight," Vanitas dismisses. Braig almost forgot there's only one thing in the worlds that scares him.

"Listen... let's talk about this somewhere else, alright?" Braig says, hesitant to even mention taking Vanitas to his house in front of Ienzo.

Vanitas is probably pouting under his mask, because he says nothing but follows Braig's lead anyway. It's almost a minute before Braig realizes there's an extra pair of footsteps behind him.

"Now hold on just a minute, kiddo," he says, jumping back to suddenly be in front of Ienzo. "You should be going to bed."

"I already said he's out here because he can't sleep," Vanitas reminds him.

"Doesn't matter. Go home and try a little harder, okay?"

Ienzo just stares at him at first but then, for the first time that Braig has ever heard, he speaks.

"The problem is the guards, right? If they don't see me with him, they can't know to hurt him," he reasons. Smart kid, but not so great at taking a hint. Braig falls back on one of his failsafe strategies that always seems to work with kids.

"Listen, I'll get you some ice cream if you agree to go home, alright?" he offers, and he sees Vanitas perk up a little out of the corner of his eye. Guess he's buying for two, then. Hell, maybe three, since Braig himself wouldn't say no to ice cream right about now.

Ienzo lowers his head but eventually nods, reaching up to take Vanitas's hand when it's offered to him.

"'S about 9 o'clock, is anywhere that sells ice cream even open right now?" Braig asks, letting Vanitas take the lead.

"They don't have to be. It's not an issue as long as we leave money on the counter, right?"

Braig would be surprised if he didn't wake anyone up with how hard and suddenly he laughed at that. This poor kid is going to have to unlearn some terrible behavior if he hangs around Braig and Vanitas.

Fortunately, there is a place that's technically still open, but only because the clerk fell asleep at the counter. Braig taps the guy on the shoulder.

"Hey, we're just gonna pick up some ice cream real quick, alright?" he tells him, dropping some money on the counter in front of him. "Should probably think about closing up for the night once we leave."

By the time the clerk seems to figure out what's going on, Vanitas is already walking back out the door with Ienzo in tow.

"Well... ciao, then," Braig bids with a wave as he follows them.

It's a long ways to Braig's home from where they are, which was a contributing factor to his shock at seeing Vanitas by the castle, so they stop somewhere to eat rather than going home. Of course, nowhere is open (on purpose, at least) this late so they can duck indoors, so they make way to the fountains instead and watch the dim lights reflect off the water as they sit and eat.

It's quiet for a bit, but eventually, and maybe it's because Vanitas is sitting in the middle so he may have forgotten Braig was there, Ienzo starts chatting. From the conversation that seems to allude more to previous interactions than anything else, Braig learns that Ienzo ran into an Unversed one night and had chased after it out of curiosity. He found Vanitas and started pestering him for explanations, which Braig guesses he must do whenever confronted with something he knows nothing about. Even sure is raising a little scientist, there.

"I just want to see one more," Ienzo persists.

"Mm-mm," Vanitas hums, shaking his head, "eat your ice cream or it'll melt."

"Why do you always wear that mask?" Ienzo asks, bouncing to another topic since he can't get his way with the first. "I thought you might have scars or something but you look normal."

That makes Vanitas pause mid-bite, before the cold gets to be too much and he has to pull away, a hand reflexively going over his mouth as if to protect it from the chill.

"Hear that, kiddo? The little one here thinks you're normal," Braig teases, though even he isn't sure why Vanitas wears the mask.

"Call it a force of habit," Vanitas says, vaguely, before returning to his ice cream.

"Did you know that sometimes a force of habit can be because you're subconsciously responding to a certain event?"

Definitely Even's kid, with a vocabulary like that.

"Yeah? I don't think anything ever happened where I felt like I had to wear a mask because of it, though. I've just always had the thing."

Braig is still amazed by the conversation at hand. They're just talking like Ienzo isn't normally the quietest kid in the world. On some level, that innocent little light taking such a keen interest in a being made entirely of darkness should be worrying-- an accident waiting to happen, one might say. Although Vanitas can be a jerk, and most often opts to act like that for as long as he can get away with it and then some, Braig can't see him purposely leading Ienzo astray.

The only other bad influence in the area is Braig himself, really, but he at the very least attempts to watch his language around Ienzo lest Even overhears and proceeds to tear him a new one. Vanitas is old enough that Braig only rarely feels the occasional twinge of "hang on, should I be saying this?" around him, but Ienzo is nowhere near Vanitas's age. Thankfully, Vanitas seems to be behaving similarly, as Braig hasn't heard a single explicit word out of him tonight.

Even after the ice cream is long gone, they stay and chat until Ienzo starts dozing off mid-conversation, leaning over on Vanitas's arm only to start awake and sit up straight again. This happens twice before Braig finally chimes in after a good while of just letting the two of them talk.

"Alright, time for bed, kiddo," he says, standing and picking Ienzo up off the bench to carry him home. "And you too."

For once, Braig just gets an agreeable "okay" instead of stubborn silence or smartass arguments. Vanitas heads straight home while Braig carries Ienzo back to the castle, managing to sneak in and put him in bed _before_  Aeleus suddenly popped up behind him with a hand on his shoulder. It's only to relieve him of his shift, and Braig mentally comments that he's got impeccable timing.

By the time Braig gets home, Vanitas is asleep. He always keeps the mask close at hand, but Braig almost trips over it when he walks through the door this time.

"Must've dropped it," he guesses, propping it up on the small table near the door that he places his keys on as well.

It ends up getting quite dusty over the next few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: man i've gotta stop swearing in these fics all the time  
> ienzo: don't worry i've got this [is baby]
> 
> update: i have decided to tentatively call these three rocky road trio because of the ice cream flavor but also because i feel like it suits them as characters and especially as a(n unlikely) trio... god forbid i end up writing angst or something to back up the name


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years pass. Not everything is forgotten.

Vexen had told Zexion he should know better than to believe in rumors, intimating that Marluxia and Larxene probably started them in the first place out of an abundance of time. He had no choice but to agree, especially since it had been Demyx he'd heard the rumor from; that Xigbar has indeed recruited a new member to the ranks of the Organization, but is hiding him from Xemnas for some reason. That he dubs him number 0.

It's only when he hears Xigbar talking in hushed tones to someone he can't see that Zexion puts stock into the rumor once more. He can definitely sense another presence, a powerful darkness, but somehow, the only danger he anticipates is punishment for eavesdropping.

He takes advantage of Xigbar's burst of laughter to quickly walk forward without needing to worry about being heard. The walls in this room are complicated, and he can't get a decent view into the alcove the two are hiding in. He is well aware that if he tries to mask his presence with an illusion, Xigbar will snuff it out immediately. Despite only having the one, his eye is ridiculously sharp.

"So you didn't find the thing in the end?" he hears Xigbar ask, as clearly as he's going to get without getting caught.

"I think it's disappeared by now. I've just never seen one like that before."

Zexion can tell the voice doesn't belong to any known member of the Organization, but he almost doesn't observe that. He tilts his head, half in an attempt to better process audio and half in confusion.

"Well, what kind of emotion was it?"

Now he's even more perplexed. Is the stranger a Nobody after all? Zexion theorizes that he was studying someone's facial expression and couldn't make heads or tails of it. But then, what had he been searching for?

"Hm..." The stranger thinks for a moment. "It's like I said, I was hungry, but I didn't want anything available to me and I guess I got a little annoyed about it? Then, bam. Unversed."

Xigbar snorts, holding his laughter back this time. Zexion accidentally tunes out of the conversation for a bit as he tries to remember what that word means to him. He should be able to extrapolate what he means based on context, and ideas flit through his head that he's just using it a funny term for something he did, but something in the back of his mind insistently denies everything he comes up with. It's on the tip of his tongue...

"So I guess you don't care?" he hears the stranger ask suddenly, and Zexion snaps back to reality.

"Eh... what can you do?" Xigbar says, and Zexion can just hear the shrug in his voice. "Why don't you say hello?"

Zexion breaks into a cold sweat as he realizes they're referring to him. He hesitantly steps out from behind the wall, and he swears he didn't have a headache before doing so.

"Who... are you?"

_Ienzo, huh..? That's an interesting name._

A hand goes to Zexion's head, and he starts before he notices it's his own.

_My name..._

"I thought you got rid of it," he finds himself saying without thinking, his eyes locked on the stranger's mask.

_is..._

"First things first," Xigbar interjects, and the throbbing in Zexion's head dies down as Xigbar sidesteps to block his view of the masked man. "You've gotta agree to keep this little meeting a secret. Nothing nefarious going on, as you can see, so what the big man doesn't know won't hurt him, huh?"

_But you can't mention it to anyone, alright?_

Zexion swears he isn't swaying, but the ground seems to move beneath him.

"If I can keep you a secret, you'll tell me more about the Unversed?"

He swears it's a line he's said before.

Xigbar and the stranger exchange looks, but the latter's expression is hidden by his mask. An echo of a dead emotion rattles within him-- frustration at lost progress.

"Vanitas," he says without realizing, as if to punctuate his last request.

Vanitas's whole body seems to twitch almost imperceptibly. He turns his head, looking away.

Xigbar clears his throat.

"Tell you what, kiddo. I'll get you some ice cream if you agree to stay quiet about him."

His words feel very deliberate. Zexion looks down, waiting for the spinning to slow to a halt, and he nods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i didn't originally plan to write this but it just occurred to me and i wrote it as quickly as possible and basically rocky road trio is my whole entire thing now


End file.
